Alaskan oil spill: The story of BP’s safety record starts from the well-known Prudhoe tragedy in Alaska Bay pipeline spill in Alaska in 2006. The corroded pipeline used by BP was one of the prime reasons for the tragedy in Alaska. It was told that the use of such out of shape equipment was mainly to cut off maintenance costs. It also came into light that BP threatened some of its workers as they raised safety issues over the firm’s operations in Alaska.

Falsifying Inspections of Fuel Storage Tanks in California: California officials found that BP falsified inspections of fuel tanks that did not meet the required safety regulations. However, the firm settled the lawsuit filed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for $100 million!

Texas Refinery Explosion: Lack of significant process safety issues had caused the explosion at Texas City refinery, which killed 15 people and injured 170. A BP spokesperson said that the firm would revise its safety system, but it remained just a statement! Consequently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the firm $87 million last year for failing to accomplish what it had promised to do.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill: This oil spill is one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S history. Failure of about eight different safety systems, including improperly sealed borehole, improper gas detection system, and valve failures had caused this massive oil spill.

BP’s terrible safety record doesn’t end here. The firm was also held responsible for many oil tragedies including the Exxon Valdez oil spill! When oil companies show a pattern of negligence to safeguard their finances, don’t you think an effective spill response plan should be in place. Using Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200, an environmentally safe oil remover should be the choice of nature lovers!

First Time Sailors – Boat Safety Tips!

Do you have a passion for sailing, but lack the much needed confidence? Then, following simple tips will help you sail like a professional! First and foremost, wear your life jacket all the time. It is the best friend for all first time sailors out there. Before getting into the waters, know the safe speed limits and abide by them.

As safety should be the first thing on your mind, inspecting the weather conditions is also crucial! Never venture into the sea without ensuring if your boat insurance is in order. Above all, check if the boat you will be sailing is sea worthy. Beware of oil spills. As there are stringent laws attached when it comes to water pollution. Unobserved but incessant oil spills can not only damage your boat, but can also pave way for some heavy penalties!

Taking care of your boat is very important in terms of personal and environmental safety. The first step in boat care is proper cleaning. It’s always good to wax or paint your boat once in a while. Flush your engine every time it’s out on the shore, and remember to cover it after the job is done. Check the batteries of your boat; you could get into trouble in mid sea if you don’t. Most importantly, pay a lot of attention to your boat’s bilge!

The boat’s bilge is the lowermost section where two sides meet. This part of the ship is prone to oil spills and collects water and oily residues, often causing a foul odor. Oil spews out from the engine and through a series of limber holes, eventually makes its way into the sea. No need to explain what it does to the marine ecosystem! So, cleaning your bilge is extremely important.

You can get a number of chemical bilge cleaners out in the marine hardware stores. However, most of them are harmful chemicals and when they are let into sea water after cleaning; the situation becomes worse than the oil spill itself. Some sailors place absorbent pads around the engine to soak up the leaking oil. These pads just suck up the leaking oil, but never remove it entirely. So, you should ideally be using eco friendly spill removing products.

Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 is one such formulation that uses oil eating bacteria to cleanup oil spills. Available in 5-gallon pails, you even stock up this eco-friendly oil spill cleaner in your boat before you leave on your sailing trip and get a clean boat and an oil-free marine ecosystem! Let’s march towards a green planet!

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Cleanup Costs associated with Port Oil Spill Cleanup

Port oil spills create a huge havoc and affect the surrounding environment heavily. The cleanup of in-port oil spill incidents is not an easy task. There are many facets to an oil spill cleanup employed. Several factors, such as type of oil spilled, location of the spill, weather conditions, and the reach of the spill in sensitive areas determine the cleanup costs in ports.

The cleanup cost incurred is really high, especially when manual recovery is involved. The cleanup operations sometimes tend to render more environmental damage when compared to the situation where the oil would have been left to degrade at a natural rate. However, that cannot be the case all the time as public demands and aesthetic considerations require some action to be taken for cleanup.

Manual containment can be the most damaging of all the oil spill cleanup exercises. In cases, especially where oil reaches the shore, the situation worsens since the use of heavy equipment and human resources can cause the oil to seep further into the sand and pebbles. Also, there is a possibility of damage to the physical integrity of the beach and the sensitive shoreline flora and fauna.

The type of oil spilled also plays a major role in determining the cleanup cost. Usually oil with lighter density is easy to cleanup than heavy oils as it easily evaporates. However, emulsified lighter oils are usually viscous, resulting in amplified cost related to oil spill cleanup.

In most cases, use of a dispersant is enough to mitigate the problem and it is easy to use as well. But, dispersants tend to linger in the deep water causing after effects to marine life at an immeasurable rate. So, it’s always better to use bio-degradable oil spill cleaners like Oil Gone Easy S-200. No after effects, easy to use, reduced cleanup cost, and most important of all – it’s harmless on Mother Nature. There more, this product is available in convenient 5-gallon pails. Places like Port of Pensacola have tried this product, you should too!


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Dealing with Port and Harbor Stormwater Runoff!

Have you ever given a second thought to how disastrous stormwater runoff pollution can prove to be? If no, then you are also one among thousand others who do not take this issue seriously. Any activity in ports and harbors causing an eco hazard reflects badly on the ocean. For instance, when oil leaks out of large tanker vessels while loading or unloading, then there is every chance for the leaked oil to get into the ocean waters. The flora and fauna of the sea are most badly affected, not to mention the degradation of the water quality. Such ruining impacts on water quality and aquatic beings, damage the marine ecosystem as a whole.

You might think that the probability of port oil spills contaminating the sea is rather too low. It might be considered true to a certain extent, but what if there is a storm? Stormwater runoff carries all those toxic and oily wastes from ports and harbors and leads them directly into the sea.

Though we might not win if we fight against the force of nature, we certainly can prevent chemicals and oil from mixing with the runoff. Only ‘Best Management Practices’ to the ‘Maximum Extent Practicable’ at ports and harbors will help us deal with it!

Finding a solution to a problem is impossible without properly understanding the source of the problem. In this case, the source is nothing but pollutants in ports and harbors, and from where they surface. The pollutants here are antifoulants, oil spills, heavy metals, organics, and cleaning chemicals, and they come out from routine seaport activities like loading, unloading, and boat hull cleaning. Modifying these activities is way above practicality, so finding remedies to nullify these chemical pollutants will be a viable option. Having environmentally-friendly spill cleaners handy is always a safe choice.

Oil Gone Easy S-200, an eco-friendly oil and grease cleaner, is a great example. It enhances the growth of oil eating bacteria to degrade oil. By using this product in ports and harbors, we can rule out pollution issues dealing with oily and greasy wastes.

If essential steps are taken to use this green product in ports and harbors, then there is going to be a sharp decrease in oil spill contamination. However, when we talk about stormwater runoff pollution, stringent BMPs and regulatory practices are also obligatory.

Stormwater Runoff

Stormwater runoff carries all types of wastes, anywhere and everywhere and ultimately drops them into rivers and streams. Oil spills are one of those hazardous wastes that can enter into the sea water along with the stormwater runoff. As ports are very near to the sea, oil spills in ports can cause too much of a damage to the marine ecosystem. Apart from port oil spills, construction sites also generate oil wastes that can add up to the environmental mess during a storm.

To prevent such problems, there’s the SWPPP – Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan in place. It is a water pollution control measure that should be completed and certified before any construction starts. This plan identifies possible pollutants in a particular site that may pollute the stormwater runoff. It tells you ways to reduce pollutants in stormwater and also describes Best Management Practices (BMP). Waste disposal is one of the important aspects of the SWPPP. Construction and pollution go hand in hand. But, you can very well manage it and keep the pollution level to a minimum.

Oily and greasy wastes are not uncommon in any port. However, what’s crucial is to manage this oily stuff in an efficient way. Oil spills that occur from loading and unloading of tanker vessels in ports, when mixed with stormwater, can find their way into the marine water causing serious ecological damages. So, safe storage and disposal of oily material in ports is really important to avoid such complications. With such drastic consequences of oil spills, we just cannot afford to ignore proper oil spill prevention and treatment.

It’s not that there’s going to be a storm whenever there’s an oil spill in ports. But, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Oil Gone Easy S-200 is an eco friendly oil spill containment product that degrades oil into harmless byproducts. It can clear out the oil completely, and leave the environment pollution free. So, join hands to prevent stormwater pollution in a greener way!

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When it comes to non point source pollution, the construction industry has a serious impact, for it not only brings down the quality of air and water, but also tops the list of noise pollution sources. And, of all the three detrimental effects of construction pollution, water pollution raises an alarming concern. Now, hold your breath for the facts about the ill effects of construction pollution might startle you!

Let’s begin on the lighter side with the causes of this devastating pollution. It is well known that construction or land clearing leaves deposits in water bodies. But how many of us know that as a result of filling of wetlands, the natural water filters are removed and thereby the pollutants are broken down? Hardly do many!

So what do you think are the sources of construction pollution? Well, the major contributor is an oil spill! In addition, diesel, solvents, paint, and few other unsafe chemicals reach the water bodies and thus play a significant role in degrading the water quality. Not just the construction materials used, even construction dirt and debris do actively participate in affecting the quality of water. Well, this isn’t all! When the silt reaches waterways, sunlight filtration is completely restricted and so has a severe impact on aquatic life.

Debris and dirt apart, oil spills are almost inevitable at construction sites. So what’s the solution? With Oil Gone Easy S-200 at hand, removing an oil stain on concrete is no more a difficult task. Oil Gone Easy S-200 in 5 gallon pails uses bioremediation technology to effectively clean up oil spills. This oil stain remover uses natural agents to break down the spilt oil. So, whenever you come across an oil spill, resort to the use of this eco-friendly product and help the planet get greener.

Oil spills – well, they are one of the biggest environment issues on the rise! Not just in oceans or on highways, they are a common scenario even at home. Most of us are aware of the ill effects of an oil spill and resort to some kind of remedial measures. But the question is, “Is your oil stain remover safe on Mother Nature?”

Most of you might take pride in reacting to a spill immediately. However, to curb the problem, only using eco-friendly cleaning products works! Here are a few green cleaning ideas that might help you do your part to save Mother Nature!

• Oil absorbent pads or tubes made from nylon stockings, hair, fleece, and fur are a great alternative to chemical oil dispersants.

• You may also resort to other green cleaning products, such as hair mats created using hair and mushrooms to clear the spill. The oil is absorbed by the hair and the oily hair is then eaten by the mushrooms.

• Worms are also a good idea to clean up oil spill. Worms break down the spilt oil to give out fertilizer products.

• Another reliable alternative is the oil eating bacteria. Well, the ocean has plenty of them! All you have to do is add some fertilizer products so that the oil is absorbed at a faster rate.

• The best of all these alternatives is the use of eco-friendly oil spill cleaner – Oil Gone Easy S-200. Be it a smaller spill or a relatively larger one, Oil Gone Easy S-200 is one product that can be completely relied upon for effective oil spill cleanup. This environmentally friendly cleaning product works using bioremediation technology to remove oil stains.

Give a thought to these eco-friendly alternatives and pave way for a better, greener world!

Regardless of the size, a marine oil spill calls for effective and immediate oil spill cleanup measures. But did you ever know how much does it cost to combat a marine oil spill? Well, to be fair enough, there is no predetermined cost as such, when it comes to oil spill cleanup! To be precise, the total cost involved varies depending on a number of factors.

Of all the cost determining factors, the type of the oil takes the lead role! And the reason is pretty simple. Each type of oil has its own specific properties and its reaction to water definitely differs! Light refined products, such as gasoline and diesel, when spilt on the sea, tend to evaporate at a rapid rate reducing the cost of oil spill cleanup. On the other hand, heavy crude oils are non-volatile making oil spill cleanup extremely difficult and expensive as well.

The next important factor is the amount of oil spilt. It’s quite obvious that larger oil spills require more intensive cleanup and of course cost more! But, there are definitely chances for a fall in the cost as the extent of contamination caused by a larger spill might be less severe at times.

Besides the type and amount of the oil spill, the location also has a crucial part to play in cost incurred to clean up the oil spill. This is simply because the location decides the extent of oil spill cleanup response required.

Above everything else, the remedial measures taken have a direct impact on the cost of cleanup. The use of eco-friendly oil stain removers, such as Oil Gone Easy S-200 to clean up an oil spill will not only help reduce the cost to a great extent, but will also help contribute to a cleaner, greener world!